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No. 6l4,837. Patented Nov. 29, I898. F. B. CHASE & E. P. REDFIELD. I DUPLICATE WHIST APPARATUS.

(Application filed Jan. 11, 1898.) (N o M o d a I.)

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UNiTn STATES FRANK l3. CHASE AND EDGAR P. REDFIELD, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y.

DUPLICATE-WHIST APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 614,837, dated November 29, 1898. Application filed January 11,1898. Serial No. 666305. (No modelJ To to whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK B. CHAsEand EDGAR P. REDFIELD, citizens of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Playing the Game of Duplicate Whist, of which the following is a specification.

Our improvements relate in general to the 'tra s or holders for retainin se arated and classified the hands of the original plays, and our invention aims to simplify the construction of these devices, and to produce inexpensive and attractive holding trays which will effectually retain in appropriate separation the once-played hands.

To the foregoing ends our invention comprehends a duplicate whist tray of the character represented in the accompanying drawings and hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a tray or holder embodying our improvements, and shown as holding the assorted cards of a onceplayed hand.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view of the holder represented in Figure 1, section being supposed on the dotted line 22 upon said figure.

Figure 3 is a bottom plan View of the tray or holder represented in Figure 1.

Figure this a view of a double hook connection for the meeting ends of the wire.

Similar. letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

The particular class of trays upon which ours is an improvement are those which are flat and possess the general form of a cross, and which, in addition to the usual stars and arrow or other indicators,- are provided with elastic bands as a means for retaining the hands in place upon the wings or cross- Ts upon which they are laid.

In the manufacture of trays of the foregoing character it has heretofore been customary to provide each of the four projecting wings, Ts, or members, of the cruciform holder proper, with a separate card-securing gum band which serves, when sprung over the assorted cards of the hands, to retain them separately in position.

A disadvantage heretofore inseparably incident to holders of this construction, has been that the separate bands have been apt to slip off and become lost.

We obviate this objection by employing, in connection with a cross-shaped, or wing-provided, flat, and preferably unwalled tray or holder proper, composed of vulcanized fiber, leather pulp, paste board, or other suitable material,provided upon its obverse or cardholding face with the usual indicators, and upon its under or reverseface with the usual tray number, and which is intermediately of its wings, that is to say, at the crotches or junctions where said wings meet or merge into the body proper, formed or provided With band-securing projections or catches of any appropriate character,-a single continuous cord formed of steel or other suitable Wire, and embodying divisions, stretches, or lengths, which are alternately composite of portions of the straight wire itself and of portions of the same wire spirally and closely Wound to form extensible spiral springs,which cord is so applied to the holder proper that the spirally wound portions overlap or extend across the wings, while the straight portions underlie and engage with and beneath the projections, preferably within notches formed at the inner angles of the intersections of the projections with the wings, and are buried, so to speak, or laid wholly within grooves or sunken recesses formed upon the under surfaces of the projections and extending between the intersections of said projections with the wings,-with the result that the smooth surface of the bottom of the tray is preserved, and the liability of the straight stretches of the wire to injure or catch the cards when the card-filled trays are stacked, or to be themselves caught, is obviated.

As a result of the foregoing construction we produce a cruciform holder each of the wings or cross-bars of which is, in effect, provided with a separate elastic or extensible card-em gaging overlapping band, but which, as a matter of fact, is, as an entirety or tray proper, provided with but a single continuous band, so connected or applied, however, that each of its four wing-overlapping extensible portions can be separately elevated, extended, and sprung over the assorted cards of the hand, without affecting the use of any of the other overlapping portions or the attachment and connection of the band as an entirety, and with the further result that the connection of the continuous wire as an entirety with respect to the board is efiectually secured, the wire being prevented from slipping longitudinally or becoming otherwise misplaced or detached.

At the center of the top surface of the tray is formed, either integral with the substance of the tray itself or as a separate device applied and connected to it, a raised center piece or boss of any preferred outline but preferably circular as shown, which serves to center and retain with respect to the tray proper the cards of the hands, and which also serves to receive and display the stars and arrow or other indicators with which trays of this character are provided.

In the type of tray illustrated in the draw ings each of the wings is of an externallypointed elliptical form, while the intermediate band-retaining projections or catches are angular or pointed so as together to present, in plan, the appearance of a square center or body portion of the tray upon which the center piece is located.

lVe do not, however, restrict ourselves to the precise form either of the wings or proj ections shown, but contemplate modifications to any such preferred outline as shall preserve the desired relationship of four oppositely-disposed crossing wings and four intermediate projections or points or members of attachment.

In the drawings, the body or central portion of the tray is designated A,tl1e center piece A,-the wings, respectively, a, a, a and a ,the attaching projections, b, 12, b and b ,-the notches preferably formed at the intersections of the wings with the projections, c,-the assorted cards of the hands of the pack, 0, 0, C and C,-the spirally wound stretches of the continuous wire which overlie the wings, D, D, D, and Dir-the straight or unwound, and tautly-extended, stretches of said wire which underlie the pr0= jections, cl, d, (Z and (Z ,and the sunken transverse grooves across the under surface of the projections within which said straight stretches of the wire are received, 6, c, 8 and a If desired, the cord at some point of its course may be fixedly attached to the holder as an entirety, by a cleat or other preferred means of permanent connection.

As a convenient means for uniting the ends of the continuous wire, we sever one of the straight stretchesand bend back the severed ends to form a double hook connection d of a character well-known to wire-workers and represented in Figure 4E, and which is adapted to be received within the sunken groove of one of the wings.

Having thus described our invention, we claim- 1. A card-holding tray for the game of duplicate whist, composed of a body which possesses four correspondingly oppositely extended wings or radiating cross-Ts and four intermediate attaching projections, -and which is combined with a single continuous metallic wire, portions of which overlap the wings and are spirally wound, and alternate portions of which are straight or unwound and intermediately of said wings underlie the attaching projections,-substantially as set forth.

2. A card-holding tray for the game of duplicate whist, composed of a body which possesses four correspondingly oppositely extended wings or radiating cross-Ts and four intermediate attaching projections, '*and which is combined with a single continuous metallic wire, portions of which overlap the wings and are spirally wound, and alternate portions of which are straight or unwound and intermediately of said wings underlie and are seated within grooves formed in the under face of the attaching projections, substantially as set forth.

3. A card-holding tray for the game of duplicate whist, composed of a body which possesses four correspondingly oppositely extended wings or radiating cross-Ts and four intermediate attaching projections, and is as to its card-carrying face provided with a raised center piece,*and which is combined with a single continuous metallic wire, portions of which overlap the wings and are spirally wound, and alternate portions of which are straight or unwound and intermediately of said wings underlie the attaching projections substantially as set forth.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our invention We have hereunto signed our names this 3d day of January, A. D. 1898.

FRANK B. CHASE. EDGAR P. REDFIE'LD. In presence of- OWEN WARD, C. R. Comics. 

